A.Introduction As traditional court processes become unpopular, there has been recourse to flexible modes of adjudication through alternative dispute resolution. In the criminal justice context, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms encompass several practices that are not available in the mainstream criminal justice system. These practices include victim-offender mediation, family group conferencing, victim assistance programs, sentencing circles,...
In a bid to show her intense love to a son on his seventh birthday, a mother posts a nude picture taken with her son on her social media platform. The Accra Circuit Court sentences her to three months (90days) in prison after pleading guilty. This is the story of Ghanaian actress, Rosemond Brown aka...
Introduction John Salmond wrote on liberty: “legal liberties are the benefits which I derive from the absence of legal duties imposed upon myself. They are the various forms assumed by the interest which I have in doing as I please. They are the things which I may do without being prevented by the law. The...
Introduction: In legal practice, the expression ‘trial de novo’ connotes trying a case afresh as ‘de novo’, a Latin expression, means over again or anew[1]. In the course of proceedings before a court of law, some situations[2] may warrant that cases that may have already begun before one court[3] be put before another court for...
INTRODUCTION The recent decision of the Supreme Court in Martin Kpebu v Attorney-General has finally settled the law on the grant of bail and other related offences stated under section 96(7) of Act 30 as amended by section 7 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment Act, 2002 (Act 633) and as further amended by section 41(1) (a)...
Anyone who has followed Justice Osei-Tutu’s Friday “Friday Legal Corner” will agree that the Learned Judge is making great contribution to legal education and legal practice, even as he serves in the country in the diaspora. The quality of research and the depth of knowledge exhibited by the Learned Judge in his writings make it...
The Facts of the Case In the case of Hayford Ofosu Amaning v. The Republic[i], the High Court had tried summarily an accused person who was charged with robbery and attempted murder. The accused was convicted on both counts and sentenced to a term of twenty-five years. The sentences were to run concurrently. Consequently, the accused...
Introduction Money laundering known in latin “pecuniam lavare” simplistically is the process of disguising, masking, masquerading and concealing the source and/or true nature of money obtained through illegal means.The Black’s Law Dictionary1 defines money laundering as the act of transferring illegally obtained money through legitimate people and/or accounts so that its original source cannot be traced. The Anti-Money Laundering Act2 provides...
The right to privacy is a fundamental human right. Article 18, clause 2 of the 1992 Constitution provides that: “No person shall be subjected to interference with the privacy of his home, property, correspondence or communication except with law and as may be necessary in a free and democratic society for public safety or for...
Under the criminal justice system, a crime is regarded as an offence against the state and not the victim.[1]The state steps into the shoes of the victim and prosecutes the offender. In the end, the state focuses on punishing the offender to either pay a fine to the state or commit the offender to a...